SEOUL: South Korean President Lee Myung-Bak yesterday accepted an independent investigation into alleged irregularities surrounding a now-defunct project to build his retirement home after he leaves office.
The probe is potentially embarrassing for Lee’s ruling conservative New Frontier Party with December’s presidential election just 90 days away.
Lee waived his rights to veto a parliamentary motion calling for a special prosecutor to look into the house scheme, presidential spokesman Park Jeong-Ha said.
The controversy centres around the purchase of a plot of land on the southern edge of Seoul for a retirement home for Lee, who is constitutionally barred from seeking a second presidential term.
The land was bought jointly last year by his son, Lee Si-Hyung, and the presidential security service. As well as a residence, the site would have included auxiliary facilities for security personnel.
But the cost was allegedly not shared evenly, with suggestions that the security service paid too high a price for its share.
AFP
